March – May 2020

“During these uncertain times…” …I think if I hear this again, I will literally scream!

Times were indeed very uncertain as my hours dipped drastically at work and though April here in San Antonio is usually filled with Fiesta activities (this link Here will explain Fiesta, a literal 10-day party in the city) and money-making opportunities that I take advantage of to pay my fall college tuition, the COVID-19 closures eliminated all these opportunities.

H-E-B, named the top grocery store chain in the US (Read here) was hiring part-time temporary workers for their grocery stores all over the state. They were also paying $2 more than their regularly hourly rate and since things were kind of uncertain at work, I applied, passed the background check with flying colors, and was signed up for training pretty quickly!

The training was at 0700 am prompt at one of the community colleges and “social distancing” is prevalent as I had to pick a seat that left every other seat empty in the computer lab. The 2 employees training us were your average college grads with button up shirts and toothpaste white smiles. We had a nice chat about Krav Maga classes and their dynamics.

The class was most of the morning and covered all aspects of working in the store, from cleaning a spill, how to place groceries in a bag, to how to properly pick up a box. I wasn’t able to stay for the afternoon session to learn cashiering, but I did go back about a week later to complete it. You were shown how to use their app on your smartphone, and you could place bids for jobs at any store immediately.

April 2020

My first job I win a bid for was for a bagger at one of the Plus! Stores. Plus! Stores are like grocery stores with a chain store aspect: they carry toys, outdoor equipment, housewares, baby items, even clothes and jewelry! It’s raining today, and I have to wear a mask to cover my nose and mouth and gloves. This company provides them for all employees though!

After a few hours, I get a rhythm putting things in bags for customers. I see which people consciously separate their groceries in their baskets while they unload, which ones who don’t bag their produce to put in their basket (???) and which people argue with the cashiers about them not honoring coupons at this time. The cashiers I work with are pretty overworked; you can see it on their faces. One likes to curse about the customers as soon as they leave his line. Another complains that she sometimes gets her break an hour late sometimes because it’s so busy. Bagging is also hard on the back if you’re a short person like me. 😦

Speaking of breaks, I get 2 breaks during my shift and they are paid ones too! I go to the official break room upstairs, with lockers, their own bathrooms, and tables and a TV. They provide an area with some snacks and I had a banana.

Back to bagging, and I pay attention to the food I’m placing in the bags. There’s so much fancy type food here that I didn’t even know about! Throw in some enemas, LOTS of wine, and you’ve definitely got some stories to talk about to others! When you can hang out with others, that is…

It’s raining again and few days later, I get a bid at a smaller H-E-B bagging again. Today the (very) young manager tells me to gather the carts from the parking lot and corral them back to the front of the store. Easy, right?

WRONG! Carts are super heavy when you are pushing multiple carts in a row! Hauling carts is like corralling horses. At least I get this handy dandy strap to help me pull them.

This is like a gym workout in itself. But it’s fresh air and mindless work, and I’m happy to do it. I’m too fast apparently; the manager says I have to actually leave carts in the lot for the customers to get.

Back to bagging, and this couple buys $500 worth of groceries, mostly fresh produce. Since my budget for groceries monthly is no where near this, I imagine that they live in a mansion with a walk in pantry with everything organized and labeled.

Today is my first day on the cashier and it’s soooooo nerve wracking! 1): I suck at doing math in my head. 2): I’m not fast since I don’t have codes for produce memorized. My bagger helps me by telling me the codes and I’m happy that I can gauge people’s ages for the alcohol sales. Thank you years of law enforcement!

And then: the power goes out! My register dies, along with all the lights and computers. Luckily the customer is very understanding and I take a break, but I have to use the bathroom in the dark! I did the cashier position at another store a few weeks later, and I still really sucked. Both registers I was at went down, including the credit card machines! I think I’m jinxed.

There are also police officers enforcing limits on how many people can enter the store since there’s lines outside, and making sure you wear a mask before you come in. I saw one guy use a produce bag as a mask, that looked so weird.

Another perk of this job: you get to shop when you’re done and the store is closed! I grab some produce and seasoning since it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, and that’s good weather for chili.

Different store couple days later and it’s the day before Easter. They gave all the employees a ham plate stacked with sides. I eat half of it on break and the other half on my next break; it’s still good cold!

It’s been non stop busy today. This store has very strict rules on distancing yourself from the customers to protect the employees. Some old woman yells at us that we “look like a bunch of monkeys” standing around when we are waiting for the paying customer to finish the transaction. A customer brings his huge pit bull in the store and no, your dog cannot smell my butt while I’m bagging your stuff! Geez!

Another new store, and it’s my first day learning the personal shopper position! I shadow another employee at another Plus! Store and learn the system’s app on the iPhone that they provide and how to shop for customers and bring it back to the curbside delivery/pickup area.

Personal shopper is like a scavenger hunt! I’m amazed at how the store has everything labeled down to the aisle and shelf number to locate them. You do have a time limit, and the app warns you when you’re running out of time by having the items you shop for get highlighted red. Then it’s on to the curbside position training, called “Curbie.” At first, it seemed kinda cutthroat; the audible “ding” comes on a screen to inform you a customer has arrived in the parking lot, and the other temp’s heads snap up to take the order. Another temp shoes me how to select the car waiting, gather what’s in their order from the shopper carts, and bring it outside. The carts are divided by temperature zone: dry items are in the storage area, cold in the cooler (34 degrees), and frozen items in the freezer (10 degrees)! The doors are a pain to open up because they’re super insulated.

May 2020

Curbside is quickly becoming my favorite position in this company. I do have to be careful not to burn myself on mufflers of the cars when I bend down to retrieve waters, sodas, and super heavy cartons of cat litter at the bottom of the carts. The parking spots for the curbside go from A-Z, and they are usually full so the screen goes ba-da-DING! Constantly through the shift. I have bruises from scraping and jamming my fingers, cuts from boxes scraping my arms, and I did the Peter Griffin clutch when I bent one of my fingernails back.

Do you want to learn something about someone? Look at the inside of their car, particularly their trunk! (Mine is very clean, by the way, complete with a first aid backpack, yes backpack). Some are not, they have trash, various mechanical items, even cigarette ashes. Yuck. And why do people have to leave their gloves in the grass when they are done with them? It doesn’t take much to throw them away!

As I load, I see many fun things. I hear the Kids Bop version of “Old Time Road” in a 4Runner, a friendly beagle, a deer across the street in the wooded area grazing during a rare slow time. Inside one car I see a cut out of a head of a person in the passenger seat. Like those giant ones you see behind the basket at an NBA game. I told the customer that it was the weirdest thing I’ve seen so far in someone’s car doing this position, and she laughs. Too bad I can’t take the tip she offers me because you can get fired for taking them. I’d have had about $100 a day if I had been taking them.

Mother’s Day rolls around and that weekend is busy with me running to the deli for a rotisserie chicken for a fresh dinner, making sure balloons don’t fly off in the wind, and getting a bottled water for a customer to her car who needed to take her medication right now. I also manage to bang my head on a cart handle and boy did I feel that throbbing for a bit.

After a few weeks, I get the notification that the temp position will be ending soon. However, I can apply for the permanent part-time position of Curbie. I’m nervous because I haven’t had a real job interview in forever, and I need the money for school still. I wore my one pair of nice slacks and my lucky Vans shoes with the taco print and they definitely helped: I got hired on the spot. 🙂